British newspaper The Independent will switch back to using Bombay rather than Mumbai when referring to India’s financial capital, its editor said on Wednesday.

Amol Rajan said the move was a stand against what he said was the closed-minded view of Hindu nationalists.

The city was officially renamed Mumbai in 1995, a change forced through by the far-right Shiv Sena party. However, within the city, the old colonial name and the Marathi-language name are often used interchangeably.

“The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India that’s open to the world,” said Rajan, who was born in Kolkata—formerly known as Calcutta—and raised in London.

“If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them,” the 32-year-old told BBC radio.

“As journalists, as someone who edits The Independent, it’s incredibly important to be specific about our terminology.

“I’d rather side with the tradition of India that’s been open to the world, rather than the one that’s been closed, which is in ascendance right now,” he said, referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Their coalition partner Shiv Sena is strongly pro-Marathi, the dominant language in the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.

To be honest , it sounds as if the non marathis are ganging up against marathis if they call other cities as Kolkata and Chennai etc instead of Calcutta and Madras , and just call Mumbai as Bombay . It is more acceptable if people call all cities by their former names . But calling only Mumbai as Bombay while calling other cities by their changed names definitely sucks . This I am saying as a Marathi .

he himself is either a bengali or else has lived among the stupid bongs at least . their own province is about to be overrun by bangladeshis and is on the verge of an islamic tidal wave . yet he finds problems in hindu nationalists in maharashtra .he should be reminded that it is because of the presence of hindu nationalism in maharashtra that whole of maharashtra is with india . the stupid bongs have lost 2/3rd of their land to bangladesh and are about to lose the rest too---precisely because of this pandering to secularism . later when they are kicked out of west bengal ,the same bongs will come to maharashtra to live safely under the protection of hindu nationalism .

It is the Brits who built and developed Bombay. for 50 years, Congress was building Delhi at the cost of Bombay, more so Indira Gandhi who saw Industrialists as her Bane.
Shiv Sena did a little more. Built 50 fly overs and the Mumbai Pune Expressway. (here calling it Mumbai to give credit to SS).
Like Ori Pai, dont agree with the Bong guy on the tolerance thing. But let me put more reasons for 'Bombay' later on.

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This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,only permanent interests. - Some Firang

he himself is either a bengali or else has lived among the stupid bongs at least . their own province is about to be overrun by bangladeshis and is on the verge of an islamic tidal wave . yet he finds problems in hindu nationalists in maharashtra .he should be reminded that it is because of the presence of hindu nationalism in maharashtra that whole of maharashtra is with india . the stupid bongs have lost 2/3rd of their land to bangladesh and are about to lose the rest too---precisely because of this pandering to secularism . later when they are kicked out of west bengal ,the same bongs will come to maharashtra to live safely under the protection of hindu nationalism .

I researched him.. born in Kolkata and move to Britain when he was 3 yrs. old. Name sounds like Tamil, and he looks like Tamil. Converted Christian mostly..

Do not care for the reasoning of the guy (in fact, am against his reasoning)... but change a city's name only if things have changed in the city. Just changing the name doesn't change anything... but adds to the expenses. Basically money taken away from things that could bring in a better change.

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"Hinduism brought a multitude of religions under one roof and survived for eons. Christianity and other religions will need to do the same or perish." - saneless

Comparison -
Bombay -
Was 20-30 years ahead of rest of India in trends, style, etc.
Industrial, economic, transportation and entertainment capital Of India.
25% of Port cargo was through Bombay Port. Bombay Airport was probably as busy as rest of the airports put together.
Only Calcutta boasted of cultural thingy. Delhi was like a 'traditional city'. And Madras was all Idli Sambar and Oil haired heroines.
No power cuts
Was out of reach of Pak nukes.
Cricket capital of India.
The only terror attacks in 'Bombay' were in 93. Till 80s, all the terror happened in Delhi (any one remember 'Transistor bombs') and Punjab
Mumbai -
Rest of India has caught up with it. Delhi is the fashion capital. Rock groups are found even in Allahabad.
Industries have moved. many to Amma land or Modi Land (oops Anandi ben land). Only thing left are the financial co's and Bollywood (i see more Delhi in movies nowadays. One fine day, we might be left with Dollywood)
Delhi Airport is busier now. There was a Chicago Mumbai flight in 2007. Now, there is only a Chicago Delhi Flight.
Vizag, Kandla, etc. are giving competition to Mumbai port (and 'JNPT')
Even in 90s, i found something unheard of in 80s, Marathi Manoos from Mumbai working in Delhi. The guys in Mumbai used to tell that they never needed to go outside the city to work. Rest of the country had to come in. That has been changing more and more. Probably, you hardly hear Marathi in Mumbai now. all the taxiwalas are Bhaiyas. In fact, in 2004, i was surprised to find a cab guy from Aurangabad.)

Another one -
Madras - Was the land of Idli, Sambar, Bharatanatyam, Rajni and Kamal. Anti Hindi riots, totally insular.
Chennai - All rocking. Plus all the IT cos, Auto cos, Dell, etc. are out there. Only things common with Madras are Rajni and Kamal.

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This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,only permanent interests. - Some Firang

Outside India, very few city name changes are there. The major ones i can think of are Peking to Beijing and Rangoon to Yangon. A couple more in the neighborhood like Lyallpur to Faisalabad, Dacca to Dhaka.

Within India, city names have been changing since independence
Poona to Pune, Jullundur to Jalandhar, Ootachamund to Udagamangalam. All preceded Bombay to Mumbai and many are just changes in pronunciation.

But only 2 have had a significant impact - Bombay and Madras.

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This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,only permanent interests. - Some Firang

that is not true . not yet anyway . marathis still form more than 20 percent of the living population of mumbai .

and during the day , many more maharashtrians from nearby places like kalyan , thane , titwala , bhayendar , virar , karjat , kasara etc come to work in mumbai . so marathi is definitely heard in mumbai still .

Comparison -
Bombay -
Was 20-30 years ahead of rest of India in trends, style, etc.
Industrial, economic, transportation and entertainment capital Of India.
25% of Port cargo was through Bombay Port. Bombay Airport was probably as busy as rest of the airports put together.
Only Calcutta boasted of cultural thingy. Delhi was like a 'traditional city'. And Madras was all Idli Sambar and Oil haired heroines.
No power cuts
Was out of reach of Pak nukes.
Cricket capital of India.
The only terror attacks in 'Bombay' were in 93. Till 80s, all the terror happened in Delhi (any one remember 'Transistor bombs') and Punjab
Mumbai -
Rest of India has caught up with it. Delhi is the fashion capital. Rock groups are found even in Allahabad.
Industries have moved. many to Amma land or Modi Land (oops Anandi ben land). Only thing left are the financial co's and Bollywood (i see more Delhi in movies nowadays. One fine day, we might be left with Dollywood)
Delhi Airport is busier now. There was a Chicago Mumbai flight in 2007. Now, there is only a Chicago Delhi Flight.
Vizag, Kandla, etc. are giving competition to Mumbai port (and 'JNPT')
Even in 90s, i found something unheard of in 80s, Marathi Manoos from Mumbai working in Delhi. The guys in Mumbai used to tell that they never needed to go outside the city to work. Rest of the country had to come in. That has been changing more and more. Probably, you hardly hear Marathi in Mumbai now. all the taxiwalas are Bhaiyas. In fact, in 2004, i was surprised to find a cab guy from Aurangabad.)

Another one -
Madras - Was the land of Idli, Sambar, Bharatanatyam, Rajni and Kamal. Anti Hindi riots, totally insular.
Chennai - All rocking. Plus all the IT cos, Auto cos, Dell, etc. are out there. Only things common with Madras are Rajni and Kamal.

Got remionded of this on seeing Mumbai Bombay discussion elsewhere

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This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,only permanent interests. - Some Firang